Improvement in coal-oil lamps



UNITED STATES BENJAMIN GARVEY,

PATENT OEEICE.

on NEwYoRx, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN COAL-,OIL LAMPS.

Specication forming part of Letters Patent No. 38,305, dated April 28, 1863.

To all whom 'it may concern Be it known that I, BENJAMIN GARvEY, of

the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Coal-Oil Lamp; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description of the same1 reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, and to the letters of reference marked thereon. The nature of my invention consists in employing very small wick-tubes and in so arranging them that a llame of any size desirable for domestic use can be obtained by varying` the'number of them employed.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

I make my lamp of any desired size and shape, and of any suitable material, and apply to it the usual appendages of lamps-viz., extinguishers, shade, &c.; but, in order to obviate the inconvenience arising from incomplete combustion when a chimney is not used, I employ wick-tubes so small that all the vapor arising from them when in use is perfectly consumed, whether a chimney is used or not. To determine this size of wick-tube I have compared the size of wick-tube in use for burning-duid lamps and also the relative quantities of carbon in burning-duid vapor and in that of coal-oil, and I have made the diameter of my wick-tubes bear the same proportion approximately to that of the wick-tubes of duid-lamps that the quantity of carbon in the vapor of burning-duid bears to the quantity of carbon in th'e vapor of coal-oil-that is, I have made the diameter of the wick-tubes vary inversely as the quantity of carbon in a given volume of the vapor-to be consumed through the tube. This, however, is only an approximate guide, and I have accordingly determined by actual use that a tube of onesixteenth of an inch diameter will burn most of the coal-oils now in use without the aid of a chimney, and I have accordingly selected that as the medium size of my wick-tube. I arrange these Wick-tubes in rows, as shown in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure l shows the arrangement of a straight-row burner, and Fig. 3 that of a circular-row or Argand burner. The spaces between the tubes forming a row are determined by the diameter of the tubes and are each about equal to the diameter of a tube-that is, each space is about one-sixteenth of' an inch in width when the average-sized tubes are used. These are the essential features of the construction of my lamp, but for special purposes I vary this construction and introduce in combination with the wick-tubes, so proportioned and arranged, certain well-known appendages to lamps, as, for instance, the slide A, which is capable of being moved up and down the tubes B B by the handle G, for the purpose of regulating the amount of wick exposed to the action of the flame; also, the shade D, which is ernployed to prevent the flame being acted upon by sudden gusts of Wind, or the button E,Fig. 3, which is of use to prevent the flame of the Argand lamp from taking a conical shape, &c. I have also confined the description to circular tubes, but it is obvious that flat tubes or annular tubes can also be used when the width or thickness ofthe opening is made very small, in accordance with the law indicated. In such thin flat or annular tubes, however, I have foundit necessary to use wicksmade ofbibulous paper, or other such material, which combine the qualities of stiffness, strength, and bibulousness, so that the wick may be made sufficiently thin to fit in the space and be yet stiff enough to admit of adjusting, while it is bibulous enough to raise the oil to the point where it is burned. rIhe bibulous quality of the paper, &c., I have increased perceptibly by perforating it with small holes placed at short intervals.

llhe operation of this lamp is as follows: The wick-tubes being small compel the use of small Wicks, which may be of any kind and admit of only a small flame forming at top, while they give a comparatively large heatingsurface to vaporize the oil. Now, a very small wick has sufficient capillary action to supply a large flame, and the smaller the cross-section of the llame the greater is its surface in proportion to its volume, and consequently the greater is the facility which the oxygen of the atmosphere has to combine with the carbon in the flame, and so to produce complete combustion. Therefore, by taking a wick-tube of suitable size, l insure the complete combustion of the oil used. The theoretic elements determining the size of wick-tubes are the relative quantities of hydrogen and carbon in the oil, the boiling-point of theoil, and the conducting power of thermaterial of which the tubes lare made; but, as the consideration of these in complex formulae is not of practical importance, l have preferred to mention the sized wicktubes which I have been accustomed to use, and which I selected after repeated experiments as a suitable medium size. As a single Wick in a small circular' tube gives too small a quantity of light for most purposes, and as it is easily put out by a gust of air, I combine two or more tubes in a row, so that the heat from each assists the vaporizin g of the oil in the others, and at the distances specified, so that the lame from two or more may unite to form in effect but one larger ilame, at the same time that by using small wick-tubes a thorough supply of air and com plete combustion are insured.

The operation ot the slide A in regulating the amount of wick exposed, ofthe shade D in protecting the flame and tubes from gusts of cold air, and of the button E in spreading the ila-me of an Argand burner is too Well known to need description, these appendages to lamps being well known to persons engaged in the lamp-trade.

I claim as my inventionl. Wick-tubes, the diameter of which is determined in the manner and for the purpose substantially described in the accompanying specification, taking one-sixteenth of an inch as the average diameter of tubes for general use.

2. The combination of two or more such wick-tubes, for the purpose of producing one large flame by the combination of two or more small flames, in the manner described substantially in the accompanying specification.

BENJAMIN GARVEY.

Witnesses:

JAMEs A. BoYLE, NEWTON It. SQUIRE. 

